The general area of research on microbial polysaccharides spans a number of disciplines, including infectious disease, cell biology, plant pathology, environmental microbiology, metabolism, and gene regulation. Many of the approaches, techniques, and analyses used in these studies can extend across these fields, however few venues are available to promote the interactions between the scientists in these diverse fields. This proposal is to support the second FASEB Summer Conference on Microbial Polysaccharides of Medical, Agricultural, and Industrial Importance scheduled to take place August 13-20, 2000 at Copper Mountain Resort, CO. As at the first Microbial Polysaccharide meeting that took place in June, 1997, the session topics and poster presentations will be organized to integrate these various topics, rather than to separate them. In addition, free time will be available before the afternoon poster session for informal social interactions. At FASEB meetings, attendees share living and eating quarters for 5 days. This living situation and the format of this meeting, as with the previous meeting, will encourage the intermingling of scientists to find common interests, share new technologies, and develop fruitful collaborations across the various fields related to microbial polysaccharides. We will make a concerted effort to include younger scientists, women, minorities, and persons with disabilities at this conference.